An Analysis of the Animal Farm - shs.edu.tw

An Analysis of the Animal Farm

篇名: An Analysis of the Animal Farm

作者:

洪宜君。國立彰化高級商業職業學校。外三一班 24 號

張雯娟。國立彰化高級商業職業學校。外三一班 25 號

張加宜。國立彰化高級商業職業學校。外三一班 41 號

指導老師:

王金淑老師

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I Introduction

The Animal Farm, an ironic parable-novel of the Soviets communism system, is the most remarkable satire by George Orwell. The book was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels, and won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996. The author adopted a form of parable to dig at human’s politics. The story, which is based on a series of revolutions by the animals, criticizes the totalitarianism during the Stalin administration before World War II. It also intents to disclose the facts of the Soviets communism’s scathing autarchy. In the meanwhile, it satirizes England, France and other countries, which have diplomatic relations with Soviets. After reading the Animal Farm, readers might think it is a general and funny story. However, having further analyzed the author’s writing motive, we realize how ingeniously the author put the Communism into this fairytale-like novel. With the author’s deliberate arrangement, this novel not only presents a complete society under the Communism, but also directs readers to explore the implied meanings while they enjoy the fun of the interesting plots?

II. Text A. The Author George Orwell was a well-known novelist, essayist and critic. He was born in Motihari, Bihar, India on 25 June 1903. After his family moved back to England in 1907, he began studies at Eton in 1917. In 1922, he served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma and because he was disgusted with imperialism, the mounting dislike eventually led to his resignation in 1927. He, then, resolved to be a writer to show the ugly aspects of the Autarchy.

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George Orwell, a gentle, sympathetic man, was also a person full of individualism and idealism. So much did he detest tyranny that he was called “the wintry conscience of a generation”. In 1950, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 46 B. Outline: This book depicts that the animals living in Manor farm are oppressed by humans and can’t fight back. However, among the animals, there is a pig named Old Major who particularly longs for liberty and encourages the other animals to launch a violent political revolution against the farmer owner who owns everything, works animal population hard, sends their young to slaughter and feeds them little. After his death, two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon are in power. Since their former owner left, they have implemented democracy on the farm and proclaim that all the animals are equal. Because these two pigs are the most influential and powerful on the farm, they dominate everything. They draw up the “Farm Constitution” - Seven Commandments, but Napoleon ends up violating the rules. He even raises vicious dogs as his “secret police” and schemes to exile Snowball as a dissident. What’s more, he drinks alcohol, uses two legs to walk, and associates with people. All the animals are in the dark but still work hard for him even after their pig leaders have betrayed them. They believe under his leadership, they still can expect the well-being they have been longing for. Unfortunately, it proves to be a pie in the sky, and their life turns sourer than before. C. Characters: a. Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones was once a capable farmer. However, he deteriorates into drinking and becomes very harsh to the animals after he lost money in a lawsuit. Instigated by Old Major, the animals rebel by driving out Mr. and Mrs. Jones as well as his workers so that they can live without hunger and overwork. Mr. Jones attempts to reinstate himself in the farm by attacking the animals－a skirmish which the animals later call the Battle of the Cowshed. He is defeated by Snowball's tactics. The only casualty of the battle is a single sheep, but many of Mr. Jones’ men are injured. After the battle, Mr. Jones has never made any attempts to capture Animal Farm again and goes away 3



to live in somewhere else. He later dies in an inebriates’ home in another part of the country. In the story, Mr. Jones, in fact, represents Tsar Nicholas II, the deposed czar, who faced severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1917 Revolution.

b. Old Major

Old Major is the kind, grand fatherly philosopher of change , an obvious metaphor for Karl Marx, whose political hypotheses about working-class consciousness and division of labor work much better in theory than in practice. Old Major proposes a solution to the animals' desperate plight under the Jones "administration" when he incites the farm animals to rebel against the corrupt farmer, Mr. Jones. Old Major claims to “understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now living.” After his death, the socialism he professes is drastically altered when Napoleon and the other pigs begin to dominate. The pigs forsake old Major's inspiration; they used it to benefit themselves instead of following through on the old Major's honest proposal. c. Snowball

Snowball is Napoleon’s rival. Both pigs wanted a leadership position in the "new" economic and political system. But as time goes on, both eventually realize that one of them will have to step down. Soon the differences, like whether or not to build a windmill, become too great to deal with, so Napoleon decides that Snowball must be eliminated. Napoleon was setting the stage for his own domination long before he really began "dishing it out" to Snowball. For example, he took the puppies away from their mothers in efforts to establish a private police force. These dogs would later be used to eliminate Snowball, his arch-rival.

d. Mr. Frederick

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Mr. Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighboring far. He represents Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in general. He buys wood from the animals for forged money and later attacks them, destroying the windmill but being finally beaten in the resulting Battle of the Windmill, which could be interpreted as either the battle of Moscow or Stalingrad. There are also stories of him mistreating his own animals, such as throwing dogs into a furnace, which may also represent the Nazi Party’s treatment of political dissidents.

e. Boxer

Boxer is a horse in Animal Farm, and he is the farm's most hard-working worker. Boxer played an important role in keeping the Farm together prior to his death and was the only close friend of Benjamin, the cynical donkey. Every time when animals face the difficulties, Boxer always says "I will work harder!" He also fights very bravely in the Battle of the Cowshed and the Battle of the Windmill. He ends up overstraining himself and collapses. Other animals think Boxer was send to a veterinarian at first, when in fact the pigs sent him to the knacker's yard to be slaughtered and made into dog food, in exchange for money to buy a case of whiskey for the pigs. In the reality, he represents the Russian working class who believe in the revolution. They work hard but still live hard eventually.

f. Napoleon

Napoleon, the pig, is really the central character as well as the main the tyrant and villain of the farm. A metaphor for Stalin, Comrade Napoleon represents the human frailties of any revolution. Although socialism is good as an ideal, it can never be successfully adopted due to uncontrollable sins of human nature. For example, although Napoleon seems as first to be a good leader, he is eventually overcome by greed and soon becomes power-hungry. He gradually builds up his power and uses the puppies he took from their parents and raises them to be his secret police. After

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Napoleon expelled Snowball from the farm, he usurps full power and uses false porpaganda from Squealer and threats intimidation from the dogs to keep the animals in order. What’s more, he gradually changes the commandments to allow himself privileges such as eating at a table and to justify his dictatorial rule. By the end of the book, Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similarly to the humans against whom they originally revolted.

g. Benjamin

Benjamin is a donkey, who is the oldest animal and is alive in the last scene of the novel. He is a wise animal, who can read as well as any pig. However, this is an ability he doesn't use until the end of the book. When an illiterate friend asks him to read the Seven Commandments on the wall, as they seem to have been changed (because of years of revisions by the pigs), Benjamin reveals that the Commandments now consist entirely of the message "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". In the whole story, he is less straightforward than most characters and has never given the options. He is very cynical about the revolution and life. The only outrage that inspires him into action is the pigs' betrayal of Benjamin's best friend, Boxer, after which he becomes more cynical than ever. For the most part he represents the skeptical people in Russia who believed that Communism would not help the people of Russia, they can see how the basic rules of their society are changing and don't take any action. Actually, the author George Orwell confessed that Benjamin insinuates himself.

h. The puppies

The Puppies, who were raised by Napoleon to be his security force may be a reference to the fact that a major factor in Stalin’s rise to power was his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin in 1922, in which role he used his powers of appointment, promotion and demotion to quietly pack the party with his own supporters. He did this so effectively that Lenin’s Testament eventually called for 6



Stalin's removal from this post. Lenin's request was ignored by the leading members of the Politbureau - most notably Trotsky, represented in the novel by Snowball. The puppies represent Stalin's secret police.

i. Mr. Pilkington

Mr. Pilkington is the owner of Foxwood Farm. In this book, it reads that Foxwood Farm is an ill-operated and old-fashion farm, filling with shrubs, barren farm and chaotic hedges. This means the colonization system of UK. Therefore, Mr. Pilkington is the symbol of Churchill. The card game at the very end of the novel is a metaphor for the Tehran Conference, where the parties flatter each other, all the while cheating at the game. This happened at the Tehran Conference: the Soviet Union formed an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom, capitalist countries that the Soviet Union had fought in the early years of the revolution. This last scene is ironic because all the Pigs are civil and kind to the humans, defying all for which they had fought. At the end of the novel, both Napoleon and Pilkington draw the Ace of Spades (which in most games, is the highest-ranking card) at the same time and begin fighting loudly, symbolizing the beginning of tension between the U.S. and Soviet superpowers.

k. Mr. Whymper Mr. Whymper is a lawyer living in Wellington. He is the first go-between among people and animals after Napoleon conducts a new economic policy. He is also the symbol of America entrepreneur-Armand Hammer. In 1921, he went to Russian to give relief to refugees and open a factory which produces pencils. In 1930.he went back to America and buy a lot of valuable paintings from Russian.

D. Analysis of important events

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a. A violent political revolution of farm animals against the farmer This event represents the Russian Revolution. Before February Revolution, Russian is a feudal and backward in economy nation. Tsar Nicholas II gets Revolution to involve in World War I. However, the Russian military was defeated in succession. Adding to this devastating failure, the catastrophe of war contributed to the Intense resentment from populace. In March 1917, 25, every big factories in capital launched the strike consisting of three hundred thousand people. Under the propaganda and call of workers, ten thousands of soldiers announced in public that they back up the revolutionary side. They along with workers occupied every agency in government and arrested Tsar’s ministers and generals. The revolution was a complete victory. Tsar was forced to abdicate in March fifth and gave the throne to his younger brother, Michael

Alexandrovich Romanov. However, on second day, Michael Alexandrovich Romanov also abdicated. As a result, House of Romanov which ruled Russian for three hundred and

four years was shattered by February Revolution and democratic revolution won the victory. b. A massacre After animals confess their commitment, they were all killed by Napoleon’s dogs on the spot. Statement and death penalty carry on until a heap of corpse piled up before Napoleon. The massacre in Animal Farm reflects a real event called Great Purge, which broke out in1930s. This is a political suppression and persecution exercise of the Soviets. It proceeded to clean Soviets communist inner and persecute innocent people. The typical phenomenon during this period of times included Political investigates, public trial in display, imprisonment, and death penalty. c. To distort Seven Discipline The pig named Napoleon set up Seven Discipline but he is against it lately. It insinuates that Joseph Stalin’s emphasis on the theory of strengthen the power of nation. However, it’s not the original meaning of Marxism. Stalin persists in this belief and starts conducting tyranny, slaughtering people and so on. d. Pigs and people’s compromise/banquet The ending of this book is that the owner of nearby farm apologizes to Napoleon. He says that he once had misunderstandings to this farm but he has comprehended it now. In addition, he also praises Napoleon’s excellent leadership and dominion. Such this kind of compliments make Napoleon overwhelmed with joy and he even don’t know 8



the signboard of his farm has been changed. This insinuates that the cooperation among UK, USA, and Soviet Union. Because Soviet Union is the prominent battlefield during World War Tow, UK and USA offered it supplements and weapons. Besides, they also held Tehran Conference. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill all attended it. Its main resolutions included founding UN, granting Soviet Union can get the lands in Poland in return, passing the decision of opening up the second battlefield, that is, Invasion of Normandy. III. Conclusion

The author satirizes humans' endless desire through the leading of the pigs. After fighting, animals would rather returning back to the formal life. In this story, it demonstrates that human are chasing after fame and wealth, the political sarcasm is greatly seen in the story. The writer once said:” The crowd is unreliable but we still have to count on them in the end.” The condition of nowadays society is the same, such as good men aren’t identified easily, elites would rather go to other nations to make their aspirations come true, or against it passively. As intellectuals, we should contemplate how to keep self-esteem and the hope in the future without giving in to vicious power. Above all, we should build up our knowledge and learn to judge rationally.

IV. Reference

Animal Farm-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2009.03.15) Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm Animal Farm by George Orwell (2009.03.16) Available: http://www.george-orwell.org/Animal_Farm/1.html Orwell George.(2003).Animal Farm. Sterling Pub Co Inc.

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An Analysis of the Animal Farm - shs.edu.tw

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